Playdoh everywhere...

Simon loves to make bugs out of playdoh. So every weekend morning, he and Alice come downstairs before we get up and she plays on the iPad while he plays with playdoh. It's a huge mess, but cleans up fairly easily with our lovely linoleum floor.

The problem is that the playdoh crumbs get stuck on socks and tracked all over the house.

But they're having fun and being creative.

"I can get smarber"

"School is important because I can get smarber." 

Really, she meant to write "smarder" which is how it sounds, but she writes a lot of her letters backwards, making this particularly funny. And there's a small person apparently screaming in the background that she added to the picture.

The New Roof

On Wednesday, the roofing company came to put a new roof on our new house. This was necessary because the inspection had revealed that the roof (which was the original one, from 1991) was leaking and needed replaced immediately. This had been a huge point of contention in our negotiations on the house and the reason we finally got the seller to lower the price, which restarted the upset big period and led to untold stress during the moving process.

Anyway, the kids had fun watching them bring the shingles down the driveway on a forklift that morning before we left for school and work.

Almost the same.

The deal with this particular roofing company is that they finish the job in one day. That didn't actually happen though, and they packed up and left for the night having not quite finished the area around the skylights in the kitchen. As fate would have it, it rained that night, a lot. When Zac went downstairs in the morning, there was water in the kitchen. It turns out that the roofers hadn't covered the area where they didn't quite finish. (Seems like roofing 101 would teach you to ALWAYS COVER THE ROOF BECAUSE YOU NEVER KNOW WHEN IT MIGHT RAIN.)

Zac quickly cleaned it up before the kids came down. Only later that afternoon did we poke around a bit more and notice the water stains on the ceiling, the paint bubbling on the window frame, and even water down in the vent. So Zac called the person in charge and he agreed to pay to have everything fixed. It just took a lot of Zac's precious time though--he has to be at the house every time these contractors come, and everything seems to happen in multiple phases. First, they send someone to look at it. Then a couple days later they send someone to actually do the work. Then something goes wrong, and you have to get the person to come back to fix it again (that's what happened with getting wiring to the upstairs rooms so they could have ceiling lights). So it's slow progress.

But, we have a nice new roof and three updated skylights at the end of it.

The Fight-Over Lamp

On Tuesday, college counseling was doing a session with my students all day, so Zac and I planned to both take the day off and go furniture shopping.  It ended up working out perfectly because this morning we were also scheduled to go to the lawyer's office to sign the closing documents for the Ryan Road house. So we did that first thing, then spent the rest of the day at Lowe's and furniture stores. The problem is that we really love modern furniture, but it is way too expensive. At a regular furniture store, we picked out a mid-century modern sectional couch we liked and got a horrifying estimate of how much it would cost. So after spending a day shopping, we ended up agreeing to just buy a couch online from Wayfair, because it would be way cheaper.

But the day was not a total loss. The last place we went was this awesome consignment store called the Chesire Cat under Cameron Village, that we found entirely on accident. We'd never been in it before, but it was amazing. It was huge and had a ton of great old stuff like original mid-century modern furniture and this tray that particularly tickled my fancy for some reason.

We had a lot of self control until we saw The Lamp. It was love at first sight, and we decided to get it. We couldn't quite decide if it was beautiful, or so hideous that it was cool again. At the checkout desk, another lady was in line behind us, and we were chatting with her about it and she said, "Yeah, it's kind of like the leg lamp."

After we picked up the kids from daycare and kindergarten and were nearly home, we told them about our day and how we'd only gotten one thing, but it wasn't a couch. Zac said, "We got an awesome lamp. This is going to be the thing you two fight over when we die." We then had to discuss with Alice at length about how we weren't actually going to die for a long time.

When we got home, Zac got the lamp out of the van and carefully carried it to the front door. Simon, who hadn't appeared to be paying attention to our earlier conversation, saw it and said with great excitement, "Is that the fight-over lamp?"

And that, great-grandchildren, is how The Fight-Over Lamp got its name.

Alice on two wheels

Alice would randomly ask to have the training wheels taken off her bike for the last couple of weekends, but always at the wrong time (as we were going in) and when Zac wasn't around to actually do it. So finally, on this lovely Sunday morning, I remembered to tell Zac that Alice wanted to try and ride her bike without training wheels. He took them off and we went to the perfectly flat, not-crowded greenway right by our house. We took turns hunting for bugs with Simon and running and pushing Alice on her bike. Within a half hour she had it down pat, and was even able to start herself. The secret to getting a kid to ride a bike is to have the bike be way too small for them, that way they can touch the ground easily. Alice only crashed once or twice, because she could just put her feet down. Also, the bike can't go very fast, so she couldn't lose control.

I can remember learning to ride a bike, on a bike that was too big and I remember getting going finally and then having trouble stopping and just turning up someone's driveway and crashing.  It's weird to think that I can remember parts of life that Alice is now experiencing herself (as opposed to the baby years which nobody remembers). Everything is on the permanent record from here on out.

It was so exciting to watch her reach this milestone! She was all smiles the whole time.

Home Depot workshop

On the first Saturday every month, Home Depot blocks off an aisle of the store (woe to those looking for lumber this morning) and turns it into a workshop where kids can come in and do a little building project for free. This was our first time ever doing it, and the kids loved it. I hated it because it was noisy (all that hammering!) and chaotic (kids everywhere!) and messy (the paint!). I was alone with the kids at first so Zac could shop for stuff for fixing up the new house. Tragically, all his work was undone as he stashed his cart somewhere when he came to check on us and either A) Someone Took It or B) He Couldn't Find It.

What breakfast looks like

The kids sit at the island and eat while Zac gets all the lunches (which I prepare the night before) loaded up in lunch boxes. The kids wake up quite early these days, usually around 6:30 or 6:45. Simon is a morning eater, and is quite hungry. Alice prefers to eat at night right before bed.

Neighbor boys

The only problem with friends in the neighborhood is that the kids want to play outside after school everyday, and how is supper supposed to get made?

Simon bug hunting with OBJ

Selling 506 Ryan Road

After three weekends and several weeknights of work, 506 Ryan Road was ready to go on the market. We got the carpet cleaned and the outside power washed, but Zac did the rest (in hindsight, he had wished we'd hired a cleaning crew rather than doing it all himself).

It was open for showings on Friday and Saturday, there was an open house on Sunday, and all offers were due by 6pm on Monday night.

On the first day, we got an offer at asking price. Over the next three days, we got a total of 10 offers that kept going higher and higher. It was quite amazing and wonderful. The final offer was so good that it was a no-brainer or as the real estate agent said, "a home-run" (pun probably not intended--he seemed fairly humorless). All Zac's hard work had paid off. We were so relieved, after our stressful buying experience, that at least the selling of our old place went quickly and well.

I was personally super happy because this meant that we would have enough funds to get a new car. I was tired of being stuck in traffic with a manual transmission, and our 2003 Honda Civic was getting a bit rattly and clinky, and seemed like it would be due for some major repair soon.

Josh lets me drive slow in the cul-de-sac

Alice loved driving OBJ's car. This was not safe at all. Alice is not an excellent driver and doesn't pay attention to anything. Luckily the car went pretty slowly (although faster than you'd think).

Playdate at the new place

Even although our house was still in shambles (by our standards) I invited a bunch of Alice's daycare friends over to play on this rainy Sunday morning. It was awesome. The kids and dads all went in the basement and the moms stayed upstairs drinking coffee at the kitchen island. The guest room downstairs also doubles as the bounce house room.

(Forgot to take any pictures. Something about not even having a computer set up is inhibiting my ability to document every waking moment like normal. :-)

Millipede

Simon loves taking his bugs to the park to play.

Evening bike ride

Alice always wants to ride her bike in the cul-de-sac when we get home from school. 

Bonkers with undies on top

Sometimes Alice goes completely bonkers before bed. This was one of those nights. She put her undies on her head and was running around like a maniac.

Ramen Noodles

Alice's first ever bowl of ramen noodles. She loved them. How had I never tried this before?

Playdoh centipede

When we were at Josh and Joanna's for supper last night, the kids were playing with playdoh and Simon loved it. It occurred to me that we hadn't had our playdoh out in a while, so I found some for Simon. I forget exactly how the toothpicks got involved, but they were very useful in making this centipede.

Simon's big boy bed

After we got our king-sized mattress in the mail, we put the double bed in Simon's room, so he too would not have to sleep in a crib anymore. Since this was the guest bed in his room at the old house, he was already well familiar with it, and took to it right away.

Meet the Neighbors!

Two weeks after moving in, we were invited to dinner at our neighbor's house. I failed to take any pictures (didn't want to seem weird). But they are super excited to have kids living next door, since they have a 4-month old baby (Jaye) and a nearly 3-year old son (OBJ). The dad is Josh (who works for a bank and does something involving computers), who I had actually talked to one random day when we were scouting out the neighborhood before putting an offer on the house and he was outside working on his mailbox. The mom is Joanna, who is a flight surgeon (military doctor). They are quite possibly the nicest people on earth.

We had supper, and our kids miraculously ate all their supper without much prompting, giving the false but good impression that we had them well-trained. As the kids were all playing in the play-room together, Josh kept commenting on how it was like a dream come true. I had to agree. I really wanted more of a neighborly feel, and I liked the idea of the kids having other kids to run around the neighborhood with when they got old. Plus, what could be better than instant, spontaneous playdates?

Every night Zac and I, exhausted, just comment on how lucky we are to get this house.

Mattress by mail, and other adventures

On Wednesday, Simon's daycare was open, my school started at noon, and Alice's school was closed all day. It was completely ridiculous because it rained the night before and all the snow and ice were definitely gone. So here is how we made the most of the day.

Zac dropped Simon off at school and went into work for the morning. I stayed home with Alice, who did a pretty good job entertaining herself.

Before noon, Zac came home so I could go into work. Since he had to miss work anyway, he took Alice, armed with the iPad, to the old house so he could continue to get it fixed up. He first stopped at the real estate office to pick up the rest of the keys, where Alice scored a candy cane from a real nice real estate agent. Apparently the iPad and candy cane kept her pretty happy all afternoon while Zac worked.

This was the scene on the porch when they got home. Thank goodness for online shopping, or we'd never get settled into this house. The big white box is the new mattress for Alice's bed. Click here to watch a video of how this mattress comes in a box.

Here's Alice testing out her new big girl bed. At 5 1/2 years old, it's probably about time we upgraded her from her crib! The dresser and bed frame are from my great-grandma Leslie Shogren (I think?).

Later that night, we hung the English Beauty, back in its traditional Besant location: overlooking the dining room table.

This is Zac's "getting the internet to work" project. It's in the guest bedroom downstairs, which doesn't have a working ceiling light currently.

I'm just documenting all this so we don't forget what it was like to start from scratch again, this time with kids underfoot and a house that was not particularly well-maintained.

Someday...

Someday Simon will learn to leave his pants on when he goes potty.

Breaking the ice

This being North Carolina, the schools were still closed three days after we got an inch of snow and ice. But it was finally warming up, so I took the kids out to play near the pond. They had fun smashing the ice with sticks. I absolutely love where we live because there is so much to do with the kids without having to drive anywhere.

The snow was a blessing really.  With a four day weekend, I was able to get a lot unpacked during the kids' naps and we were starting to feel settled in more.

"I'm a bad guy."

Simon dressed himself up in Alice's princess gear, then declared, "I'm a bad guy!"

Bug hunting expedition

On Sunday, the temperature plummeted and barely rose out of the teens, so the measly amount of snow we got on Saturday did not melt and the pond even froze. It was so cold out that I was forced to convince the kids that their noses would fall off if we went outside, so they wouldn't want to go out. They were content playing inside all day in the new big house. Among other things, they went on bug hunting expeditions with Simon's new bug collecting equipment from Christmas.

Poor Zac traversed the icy roads to go to the old house to continue fixing it up.

Alice's wings

How to entertain yourself when you're stuck inside on a cold day.

Snow on Zac's 38th birthday, at our new house, which has a room with a view

The snow came after all, Saturday morning, on Zac's 38th birthday, which we celebrated in our new house that was finally ours. 

One of the things I had really wanted when looking for a new house was a room with a view, a place to be able to sit and look out the window and watch it snow. I remember being frustrated at the old house, whenever it snowed, that there was no place to really sit and just look out the window. So when it snowed on our second weekend in the new house, and I could sit at the kitchen table and look out the window at the snow falling, I felt immensely happy.

First week at Flemington Court

Sunday, Jan 1st, 2017: We started the new year in a new house that we really loved. But there was work to do. The weather had turned colder, so Stana tried to sequester the kids in the basement play room so I could continue to unpack. Nelson and Zac went back to work on the old house all day again. Zac got stung by a wasp in a glove.

Monday, Jan 2nd: More of the same. Stana watched the kids and cleaned things while they were napping. I unpacked. Zac and Nelson worked on fixing up the old house. In the evening, I drove my parents to the airport, unable to thank them enough for all their help. The kids took their first bath in the garden tub in the master bathroom.

Tuesday, Jan 3rd: We all went back to work and school. Other teachers come back from winter break rested. I had graded 105 midterms, gone to Ohio, and moved houses. I was not rested. But I was happy for the distraction from the house....today was the last day of the upset bid period. When we made it past five o'clock, we felt a huge burden lift. We brought the cat from the old house to the new house (to live in the garage until she demonstrated that she remembered how to use a litter box).

Wednesday, Jan 4th: I took the day off work, since our closing was scheduled for noon. But we didn't actually know if it was going to happen or not (lawyer/seller dragging his feet on filing court documents) until I got the call at 11am that all court documents had been successfully recorded and we were able to sign. It was quite exciting as I rushed to the bank to get a check for the downpayment, picked up Zac outside his office, then rushed to the closing attorney's North Raleigh office to sign the paperwork.

The first thing we did after closing was to go eat lunch at Carolina Cafe at Cameron Village. Zac decided he needed a grilled cheese sandwich to celebrate.  The second thing we did was go to Home Depot to order a washer and dryer for the new house. We were a bit disappointed to learn it would take three weeks for them to be delivered. But oh well, we could use the old house as a laundromat until then. Zac would be spending weekends there anyway, fixing it up to sell.  While at Home Depot, we also bought a new grill and a cat door.

The kids took another bath.

Thursday, Jan 5th:  Lots of online shopping for stuff we needed at the new house.

Friday, Jan 6th: Zac and I spent our day at work changing our address on bank accounts, credit cards, utilities, etc. The cat had sufficiently demonstrated her litterbox competancy, and Zac had installed the cat door, so we brought her in the house. A big winter storm was supposed to come in that night, but it just rained.

Within the first week, we'd met several of the neighbors. Everyone was super friendly and nice. We were so excited to be living the cul-de-sac life, where there was more of a neighborly feel than our old neighborhood.